Thoughts on Torah, working, living in Israel and how they go together.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

America's obsession with sports

I just came back from the US having spent a few weeks working there on site for a customer (one of the big reasons why I haven't posted much).

Being in America for an extended period of time helped me realize how obsessed America is with sports.

There is not 1 not 2, not 3, but at least 10 all sports channels available (Espn, ESPN 2, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, Yes, MSG, SNY, MLB...) in the NY area. There are also 2 all sports radio stations that talk sports 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Sunday afternoon is dominated by the NFL.

Peoples lives are defined by the sports teams that they are fans of and people live through their teams.

Being back in NY pulled me in a little and I am very happy that in Israel I am somewhat removed from this.

When I was in Israel learning for the year, I was completely disconnected. There was no way to be a US sports fan in Israel, you were completely cut off from everything. You couldn't even get the scores. Unfortunately, today, the internet has made it very possible to continue being a US sports fan in Israel. Everything is available online. The internet has made the world a much smaller place, you can feel connected to anywhere now. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is great that my kids can talk to their grandparents and cousins on Skype and keep up a very close relationship. It is bad that it makes it hard to pull away from the sports obsessed US culture.